Succubi, also known as night demons or succubi.
According to legend, they are female demons who enter men's dreams while they sleep and copulate with them, feeding on the male vital energy drawn from the pleasure of the human soul.
And Mari, as a Great Mother-level fairy, was a Succubus with an exceptionally pure bloodline.
Samael stared at the wide-open window, then at the female demon lying on her side beside him, propping her cheek on her pale arm as she smiled at him. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his face turned dark as thunder.
There was no doubt about it. He had just been assaulted in his sleep by this Succubus.
All the sensuality in that dream had been the desires this woman had lured out of him.
"You're awake? You worked pretty hard last night."
"Thud…"
The victim reached out to grab her, but the figure lounging there and enjoying the show scattered into a flurry of petals, then reformed on the armchair.
"Mari!"
Remembering the indulgence he had fallen into while unconscious, Samael felt his blood surge. His facial muscles twitched violently, his face burning with shame and anger.
"Why are you so mad? You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
The white-haired woman elegantly crossed her legs and studied Samael's reaction with great interest. She winked with a teasing smile, her words full of mockery.
"So I should thank you?"
Samael ground his teeth and stared coldly at the wretched woman in the room, speaking through a smile that did not reach his eyes.
Though he had to admit, that sort of thing really did feel good.
And the illusions woven by a Succubus could bring someone an extremely intense form of mental pleasure.
After all, anything was possible in a dream.
That was why ordinary people without firm willpower, after experiencing that kind of bliss a few times, would sink into it and find themselves unable to break free.
But an illusion was still only an illusion.
As a Succubus, Mari had woven the dream, but she did not need to take part herself.
It was the same as a human watching a video, experiencing a certain kind of 3D high-definition cinematic art from the viewer's perspective.
He had several terabytes of study materials saved on his cloud drive. Having that kind of viewing hobby was one thing, but had he ever imagined becoming the subject being watched?
And just now, Samael had been the male lead, his soul taking the stage for a live shoot, getting worked up over a pile of dream bubbles...
So Mari had been the one enjoying the show, while he had become the show.
"Even though I did a good deed, you don't have to thank me. Let's call it even."
As the temperature in the room plunged, Mari spoke with a sincere expression, looking exceptionally generous. Yet the moment she left the chair, her body honestly began shifting toward the open window.
"Get over here. I promise I won't beat you to death!"
His shame reaching its limit, the Ancient Serpent threw on his clothes and got out of bed. With a dark glare, he summoned the Holy Sword and stormed after her for revenge.
"Boom! Boom!"
Just then, the muffled rumble of collapsing walls came from the alley below the inn.
The two of them, locked in a tense standoff, froze at the same time, their auras sharpening.
"Awoo..."
Under the cold moonlight, two indistinct masses of pitch-black ink smashed through a house, sending dust billowing across the ground.
"My child! My child..."
A mother with blood smeared across her face cried out and threw herself forward, clutching desperately at the ankle beneath the black smoke.
The two upright monsters had canine features, their entire bodies shrouded in darkness, and each was holding a swaddled infant. They abruptly turned their heads, two crimson points of light gleaming with intense malice as arms tipped with sharp claws rose high.
In that instant, the ordinary woman, driven purely by maternal instinct, felt as if she had fallen into an icy pit. Under that brief stare, even her blood seemed to freeze. She closed her eyes in despair and waited for death to come.
"Clang!"
At the critical moment, a beam of light shot forth and split the monster formed from black smoke straight from head to toe. A magnificent longsword wrapped in brilliant starlight plunged into the rocky ground, lighting up the darkness.
"Aaah!"
The blinding radiance made the black smoke around the other monster boil violently and collapse. In the blink of an eye, it evaporated like melting snow.
"There, there. It's all right now."
At the same time, an unnamed swordsman in light blue-and-white armor, a hood pulled over his head, walked over slowly while holding the falling swaddled infant in one arm, gently soothing the crying child.
"My child! My child!"
The terrified mother staggered up from the ground and rushed toward him.
Samael handed the infant to the mother, then turned and frowned as he looked ahead.
"How is he?"
"There's a man inside, pinned under a pillar. Several ribs are broken, and it looks serious, but I've already cast a spell to stabilize him. As long as he doesn't move around, he'll be fine."
The white-haired, pointed-eared female Magus emerged from the drifting dust with a somewhat grave expression and nodded slightly to her companion.
At the same time, Mari did not forget to step forward and gently wave her wand, healing the mother.
"Thank you! Thank you, Sir Knight, and thank you too, Miss Magus!"
Having escaped death, the woman hugged her child tightly. Looking at her husband, who had been moved to the open ground, she kept bowing, her gratitude beyond words.
Knight?
Hearing that, Samael realized the mother had mistaken him for a member of the Knights of the Round Table. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, but he did not correct her.
"What is this thing?"
Holding her wand, Mari crouched down and poked at the few wisps of ash on the ground, though there was almost nothing left. She looked rather curious.
"I'm not sure..."
Samael shook his head slightly. After examining it for a while, his brows gradually drew together.
Still, this thing felt a little familiar...
"Roar, roar, roar, roar!"
All of a sudden, amidst low, muffled roars, several similar presences erupted one after another from different parts of the town.
Immediately after, the crackle of Ether, the collapse of houses, the tearing of flesh, and the dying screams of humans rose and fell from every direction.
There were more.
"You treat the wounded. I'll clean up these monsters!"
Samael gave the order in a low voice, and Mari nodded seriously. For once, the two companions reached the same conclusion and rushed toward the scene with powerful strides.
"Ether, fill this place. Mana Burst!"
A blue-and-white streak of light raced through the streets at high speed. The Holy Sword in his hand swept up the magical particles in the air, forming a sharp storm of blades that tore the black monsters along his path to pieces.
Behind him, Mari cast spell after spell, protecting the living and treating the injured.
Before long, the two powerhouses second only to the Divine Spirits had almost carved their way through the entire town, wiping out the vast majority of the monsters.
At that moment, near the city gate, the town guards, who had reacted a little too late, were rushing out of the sentry post. With swords and shields in hand, they surrounded a much larger monster and hacked at it.
But amid the repeated clangs of metal, the blades of ordinary humans only stirred the black mist around the thing's body. They could not harm its vitals at all.
"Roar!"
The enraged monster threw back its head and roared, sweeping its two-meter-long claws through the surrounding area.
The nearby soldiers had the bones in their hands shattered. With warped shields and broken swords, they were sent flying by an overwhelming force, crashing hard to the ground and vomiting blood.
"Kill... humans... kill..."
The monster stepped forward and stomped on the waist and abdomen of a badly wounded soldier. Grabbing the man's legs with one hand, it tore him in half in an instant amid his piercing screams.
Crimson blood and slick intestines spilled over the monster's body, seeming to make the black mist around it even thicker and more sinister.
"Get out of the way!"
Just as the paralyzed soldiers stared in terror, the gleaming edge of a golden crescent slashed diagonally from behind. The monster instinctively raised an arm to block.
"Aaah!"
In an instant, an arm shrouded in black mist was sent flying high into the air. The monster let out a shrill howl, then immediately sprang away, smashed through the city gate, and charged into the wilderness beneath the heavy night.
***
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
[email protected]/PinkSnake (50 Chapters Ahead).
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.
***